rix-dollar

Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A name given to several different silver coins of Denmark, Holland, Sweden,, NOrway, etc., varying in value from about 30 cents to $1.10; also, a British coin worth about 36 cents, used in Ceylon and at the Cape of Good Hope. See rigsdaler, riksdaler, and rixdaler.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. A name given to large silver coins current, chiefly during the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, in several European countries (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, etc.). The value varied between $1.15 and 60 cents United States money, but was usually a little over $1.

n. An English colonial coin and money of account, derived from the Dutch, in Ceylon, Cape Colony, and Malacca.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From obsolete Dutch rijcksdaler, cognate to German Reichsthaler and to the English words riche and dollar.

Examples

Ibsen was now beginning, rather shyly, very craftily, to invest money; he even found himself in frequent straits for ready coin from his acute impatience to set every rix-dollar breeding.

I never saw any silver pieces there, and could not without difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a rix-dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the poor who open the gates.

I requested something to eat first, not having dined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before as knowing how to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, for which she charged a rix-dollar and a half.

I once showed one of their chiefs a rix-dollar; he asked how much it was worth among the Christians; and when I told him, he laughed exceedingly at us, saying we were fools to value a piece of iron so highly; and if he had such money, he would throw it into the river.

"'Twill be eating coined money," said he; "for the burgomaster of Dusseldorf had given us a rix-dollar for these ears, as proving the death of their owners; but better a lean purse than a lere stomach."

Though the pay of the Prussian soldier was small, though every rix-dollar of extraordinary charge was scrutinized by Frederic with a vigilance and suspicion such as Mr. Joseph Hume never brought to the examination of an army estimate, the expense of such an establishment was, for the means of the country, enormous.